


Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

by PhlamingFeonix



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood Wonder, Halloween, Hogwarts Professors, Hogwarts Second Year, Letters, Photography, Worldbuilding, petrification
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25720201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhlamingFeonix/pseuds/PhlamingFeonix
Summary: A collection of letters written to the Creevey family during Colin's first year at Hogwarts, featuring a collection of (sometimes familiar) faces and a sense of joy and wonder at all things magical. Right up until just after Halloween...
Relationships: Colin Creevey & Dennis Creevey, Colin Creevey & Ginny Weasley, Colin Creevey & Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

**Author's Note:**

> This one's been sitting in my drafts for quite a while but only recently did I have the motivation to finish it. Comments are always welcome :)

1st September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

WOW! Hogwarts is so exciting, and I’ve barely even spent any time here yet! The train journey seemed to take _forever_ but then I guess we are somewhere in the highlands of Scotland so that’s to be expected. I sat with this really nice girl Ginny on the train who’s in my year, though she seemed worried about her brother who might have been left behind. Anyway she was really nice and told me all about magic and Hogwarts and stuff (she’s used to all this you see, because she has a huge family who are all wizards and she’s grown up in a house full of them).

When we arrived in the station here, there was this HUGE man called Mr Hagrid who took us all in boats across an enormous lake until we could see the castle which is enormous! Honestly, it’s like something out of a fairy tale and it looked amazing in the sunset—I took so many photos of that moment because it felt so majestic and beautiful. Also there’s a GIANT SQUID in the lake! How cool is that? We didn’t get to see it though, so maybe it was feeling shy. Then we had to go to the Great Hall and be ‘sorted’ into our houses by this talking hat and it turns out I’m in ~~griff~~ ~~grifindor~~ Gryffindor house! Supposedly everyone in Gryffindor is really brave, but I’m not so sure about that. Inside I’m really a bit scared about coming to big school (particularly when it’s a magical big school!), so far away from you back at home, but so far everyone I’ve met seems really kind. Also Ginny is in Gryffindor too which is nice because she seems friendly.

Then we had the feast which was so cool! There were these ghosts, like ‘Nearly Headless Nick’ (yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like—gross!) and food that kept magically appearing on all the plates. And all of it was so delicious: roast chicken, beef and Yorkshire puddings, mashed potato, pies, steaks and so many different vegetables. Then was pudding with chocolate cake, treacle tart, Eton mess, jelly and ice cream and so much more—it was amazing! I’m in our new ~~dormitry~~ dormitory now with 4 other boys and we were talking about all the exciting lessons we’ve got this week and what’s going to happen in the term ahead. Apparently I’m supposed to go and find an owl to send this off tomorrow from the ~~Owlary~~ Owlery because apparently normal post doesn’t work from here.

I’m really tired now because it’s been a long day, so I should probably go to sleep. I took loads of photos with my camera though (the one of the Great Hall is ~~specktacular~~ spectacular! Hamza Ammar (another boy in my dormitory) also said I might be able to make them move if I use the proper potion—maybe I’ll ask my Potions teacher about it tomorrow!

Lots of love, I’ll write to you all again as soon as I can.

Colin

2nd September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

Today we had our first lessons of the year and it was awesome! My head of house is Professor ~~McGonno~~ McGonagall who also took us for the first lesson in ~~Transfiggaration~~ Transfiguration which seems really hard but she’s so good at it—she can even turn herself into a cat without even saying anything or using a wand (which apparently is something that even wizards find basically impossible because there’s only been four people like that this _century_! We were all dead impressed and everyone clapped when she did that. But for us it was mostly just a lot of taking notes on different rules and ideas, with lots of diagrams of wand movements and formulae. It seems a bit like science at primary school because it’s quite confusing but really cool when you can do it well.

Then we had Charms with this tiny dwarf of a teacher (some people keep saying he’s half goblin but I’m not sure if I believe that). We didn’t get to doing any work with our wands yet but we learnt all about the theory behind making things fly and practised our wrist motions. Hopefully by next lesson we’ll have started on that. Besides, Professor Flitwick (the teacher) seems more friendly than most of the other teachers so Charms is probably my favourite class so far.

But more importantly, today something REALLY super exciting happened: I met a celebrity wizard! He’s called Harry Potter and he’s friends with Ginny’s brother (you remember Ginny from the train?) so she was telling me all about him yesterday and how he’s super powerful because he defeated this really dark wizard called ~~You Now~~ You-Know-Who when he was just a baby (I don’t really understand how but it sounds pretty interesting). He’s in the year above me at school and he’s in Gryffindor too so I can properly get to know him. On his forehead he’s also got this awesome scar that looks like a lightning bolt and I even managed to get a promise of a _signed_ photo of him with this other wizard Professor Lockhart who’s one of the teachers at this school (I think he teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts). Imagine that—I’m friends with one celebrity wizard and being taught by another! 

We also had Potions with Professor Snape who’s the Potions master with the Slytherins. He seems a bit biased towards them (understandably, I guess) but even with that he’s one of the scariest people in the school (secretly I think he might be a vampire—he’s very pale and dresses in a long ~~bilow~~ billowing cloak and he has a pretty creepy smile. So of course I was a little terrified of him but Potions does seem quite an interesting subject with all of these incredible ingredients like dragon scales and ~~Accrommantola~~ Giant Spider venom. I also spoke to Professor Snape about getting some magical film development potion but he told me to just stop pestering him. So I’ve sent off some photos for you to get normally developed at home, and in the meantime I’m going to investigate to see if I can get some from Hogsmeade (that’s the closest magic village to school) because I think there’s an Owl Order postal service you can do and I’ve still got some leftover change from the Galleons we used to get my books at the start of term I can spend.

Anyway, I don’t know if you will’ve got the last letter yet because I’m not sure how fast Owl Post is, but I’m sending this with another one of the owls in the Owlery so hopefully it reaches you soon. I think if you give them a letter then they might be able to carry it back to me? I don’t know how else you could write to me; I’m not sure if Hogwarts has a post-box so it might be worth a shot.

Lots of Love,

Colin

5th September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

Sorry I haven’t written to you in the last couple of days, I’ve just been so busy with all my classes and trying to take as many photos as possible of all the different amazing things I’m seeing and everything that I was struggling to find the time to take a breath and talk about it all, but there’s so much to talk about!

Firstly, I got my photos developed! It turns out Owl Post is really quite fast because I sent off some of my photos on Wednesday after Professor Snape said he didn’t have time to develop them for me but I managed to catch Professor McGonagall before dinner and she kindly explained what I needed to do. I got them back yesterday evening and it’s brilliant! It’s like the television but on a photograph—it plays out a whole scene. I didn’t manage to get Harry Potter to sign his photograph this morning though, because he was busy with another friend who was throwing up slugs (disgusting as it sounds) but I reckon I might manage to get another chance when he comes back up to the common-room this evening. Speaking of Harry Potter, I’ve been getting to see loads of him around the castle because we’re in the same house and have all the same teachers so he’s not exactly hard to find. Also, he’s like insanely good at this game called Quidditch (which seems to be the wizarding equivalent of football in terms of popularity I think). He’s the youngest player in his house for 100 years! Usually 1st years aren’t allowed to play but he’s just _that_ good. He’s also the Seeker which is really important because he’s the only one who can catch the Golden Snitch which is worth 150 points! There’s also 3 Chasers who have to throw the ~~Quofl~~ Quaffle through some hoops at the end of the pitch against the Keeper (goalie). Also there are 2 Bludgers which try and knock the players off their brooms and the Beaters on each team have baseball bats they can use to try and protect the players from the Bludgers. It’s all really exciting when you get to see it played even though it was just a practise this morning. But I got to watch both Gryffindor and ~~Slith~~ Slytherin play which was cool (even if the Slytherins seem a bit mean, they’re kinda the ones who made Ron (Harry’s friend) start vomiting slugs. I got loads of great photos of the practice though, and if they’re magically developed it’ll be even better because it’s like you can watch the whole Quidditch match as happened so it’s like a film camera!

Also, I’ve now had all my different lessons so I can tell you about all of them properly! My favourite teacher so far is Professor Sprout (the head of Hufflepuff, another house) who’s really nice, and Herbology has a bunch of really cool plants. Apparently loads of the plants are useful in potions so it’ll probably be relevant for Professor Snape because he’s got a whole massive store-cupboard full of ingredients. We learnt about Mandrakes today which is going to be our special project for the year and we had to wear earmuffs when she showed it to us out of the soil because it’s basically like a small leafy baby and its scream is dangerous!

We’ve also had our first couple of lessons with Professor Lockhart who’s been telling us all about all the exciting things he’s done. He’s the one who wrote 7 of the books I had to get and he spent most of the second lesson talking about all the spells he used to defeat Thallus the troll and said we might get round to learning one of them: the Leg-Locker curse soon which sounds exciting (I can practise on Dennis… only joking)! We also had Astronomy which doesn’t seem very magical to be honest, it was a lot of just learning about the phases of the moon, a lot of which we did in primary school. On the plus side, it means we get to stay up late next Friday for our first practical lesson at midnight because we get to make use of our telescopes and actually look at the sky! History of Magic I think is the last one I haven’t talked about because honestly it’s not that interesting. In theory I really want to like it because it’d be so cool but really the most interesting thing about it is that Professor Binns (the teacher) is a _ghost_! Unfortunately, he tends to drone on and on about the subject in a really boring voice so even stories about Emeric the Evil (one of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizards to have ever lived) tend to be dull. It’s a shame really, I used to like history at primary school!

I should probably get on with some of my Transfiguration homework now—it always takes longer than you expect because we have to write with quills and inkpots rather than pens which would be so much easier. Maybe it’s just tradition? But if you wanted to send me some regular pens in a return letter with this owl then I wouldn’t mind… Anyway, I’ll leave this here and write to you again soon.

Lots of Love,

Colin

12th September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

It’s been an amazing week here at Hogwarts! Last weekend after I finished writing my letter to you, me and Hamza (I think I’ve mentioned him—he’s a friend in my dormitory) went around exploring all of the castle to try and get more familiar with it and it’s so cool! We’ve been getting really lost these first few days because it’s ENORMOUS but I think I’m getting more used to it now. We started out in the Gryffindor common room and checked out the West Tower (which I know pretty well, because that’s where the Owlery is and that’s where I send letters to you from. Then we walked through a bunch of corridors to try and get used to where they were, and I realised there were so many that I’ve never been through before! I never realised just how much of the castle there actually was to find out about before all this, but most of my lessons are on the first couple of floors so I mostly just go down to the Entrance Hall and I can find my way to all of my classrooms from there.

It doesn’t help when there are all of the suits of armour (which can talk of course, because it’s a magic school!) trying to give you directions but only some of them are actually helpful and most just send you in completely the wrong direction for a joke. The portraits on the walls are a little bit nicer and usually help you out, but we met one of a knight called ‘Sir Cadogan’ or something who ran off way too fast for us to follow him—and he spoke weirdly like he thought he was actually still a knight. Some of the ghosts are nice too: Nearly-Headless Nick is Gryffindor’s ‘House Ghost’ and he’s a bit posh but still helpful, especially when I was lost in the first few days because he was usually hanging around the Great Hall during breakfast times (even though he can’t eat). The Fat Friar’s also usually really nice, probably because he’s Hufflepuff’s House Ghost and they seem to be jolly and helpful all the time (Professor Sprout’s the head of Hufflepuff and she’s my favourite). One of the worst is Peeves the poltergeist who always tries to tell you the wrong directions and also loves to trick you into doing things or grabbing your legs or dropping water balloons on you. Apparently only Headmaster Dumbledore and one of the other ghosts can control him!

Anyway, we were planning on exploring the whole of the castle but it’s just too big to do properly in one day because there’s all the random classrooms and corridors to go through, as well as all the beautiful ~~tapestrys~~ tapestries to look at, some of which have a secret passageway or staircase behind. There’s so much history and stuff behind everything in the castle because it’s been here for a whole millennium but people are still finding out new things!

I need to head back to the Owlery now if I want to post this today before curfew, so I’ll write to you all again soon.

Lots of love,

Colin

19th September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

It’s actually been a pretty quiet week this week, and I’ve started getting used to my new classes and it’s a little easier finding my way around the school now after a bit of practise. I think I mentioned last week about all the exploration of the castle that we did over the weekends and it’s really paying off—even with the moving staircases ~~wrecking~~ wreaking havoc all the time. Mostly I just need to know how to get from the Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall, and then to all of the classrooms where my lessons take place. It’s inconvenient when I need the bathroom though because there’s one off of our dorm that I can use in the mornings but that’s really far away from most of the classrooms (have I mentioned how annoying it is to have the dormitory up a tower? So many times I’ve wished I could levitate myself up those steps!). The only other bathroom I know about is on the ground floor near the Entrance Hall so if I’m anywhere else in the castle I don’t have many options. I think there’s also a bathroom for Prefects on the fourth or fifth floor which is really fancy and basically has a swimming pool in it with loads of different magical bubbles and stuff, but I’m not allowed to go in there.

We also finally had our first practical Astronomy lesson (it was cancelled last week because of bad weather—apparently even wizards can’t control the storm clouds) and it was a bit better than I expected because professor Sinistra (that’s our Astronomy teacher) helped us to spot a bunch of planets with our telescopes and how to identify them. Also I’m so glad that it was on a Friday because we only got to bed at 1 in the morning and I was so tired afterwards but I got to have a lie-in this morning!

I went exploring the castle with Hamza again, looking round the lower floors and we even went all around the dungeons this time! Usually I go to Potions lessons there with professor Snape and then get out as quickly as possible because it’s totally creepy, but Hamza said there were rooms there which had the Philosopher’s Stone in last year (that’s something that Harry saved from some dark wizard last year!) but we couldn’t find them so maybe they’d been blocked off. Also, he was telling me all about different kinds of magic from where he grew up. Apparently he was born in Libya and his parents went to a different school called ~~Waga~~ Uagadou in Africa where they learnt to do magic without a wand (but deliberately, not accidentally like I did with Auntie Elsie). They do loads of Astronomy there so Hamza’s really good at it from home and he could find all the planets and stuff really easily too. I thought it was basically just a Muggle (non-wizarding) subject but there’s actually a whole lot more to it than that. There’s loads of important stuff to do with the moon and how you can only brew certain potions when it’s full because of the way the ingredients work together, and how it turns out werewolves are actually _real_ and only come out at the full moon! I don’t think we actually get to do much of this cool stuff at Hogwarts, because lots of our magic is focused on charms and spells from our wands but it’s really interesting to learn about it. Like did you know that there are certain spells that only reveal things depending on which zodiac sign we’re in, or when certain planets are in certain positions—it’s surprisingly complicated! Also there’s creatures called Heliopaths which only exist for one day a year in midsummer but they’re really rare (to the extent that most people don’t even think they exist) and dangerous because they’re made of fire so they can burn through basically everything but Hamza actually SAW one when he was in Libya. That’s so cool!

Anyway, I have a bunch of Potions homework I have to do for tomorrow so I should probably go and send this now. I swear Professor Snape is one of the meanest teachers there is, and apparently the Slytherin common room is just like his hair: dark and slimy! I’ll write again next week!

Lots of love,

Colin

26th September 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

It’s been another brilliant week at Hogwarts and I’ve been really busy with lessons. We’ve fully moved on to practical lessons now in Transfiguration after learning all of the theory about simple Transforming Spells. We were supposed to be turning a match into a needle on Wednesday but only a couple of the Ravenclaws managed to make any progress by the end—that’s one of the other four houses I haven’t really talked about yet. Professor Flitwick (he’s the Charms teacher – the one who people say is half-goblin) is their Head of House, and supposedly it’s filled with really brainy people and that’s why they often win the house cup at the end of the year because all the kids can do the spells really well. But Gryffindor won last year so HAHA! (I think that’s mostly because Harry Potter saved the Philosopher’s Stone from someone trying to steal it, and he was only in first year then!) I keep trying to ask him about the story behind that but he always seems to be really busy doing homework or trying to find a book in the library—I guess he has harder lessons now he’s in second year?

Also, you know how I’ve been looking around the castle a lot over the past couple of weekends? Well me and Hamza and also Ginny and Luna (who’s one of Ginny’s friends in Ravenclaw) went on a massive walk all around the grounds of Hogwarts this week to try and see everything there is to see in them. I’ve already been down to the Quidditch Pitch with Harry a few times so I know my way around there pretty well. We wanted to walk all the way around the Black Lake but the path down to Hogsmeade village goes round one side and we’re not allowed to just go there randomly; even older years have to wait for certain weekends. So we only looked around the East shore of the lake and we (sadly) still didn’t see the giant squid. There’s also the ~~womp~~ Whomping Willow which is this super dangerous and terrifying-looking tree with branches like clubs that try and hit you if you get too close. According to Ginny it wasn’t there when her parents were at the school, so it must have been planted since then but what I want to ask is why?! I know Headmaster Dumbledore is a bit _odd_ but surely even he must agree that we should at least put a fence around it? Maybe because it’s a magic school it’s not actually that dangerous? I haven’t had to go and see the matron Madam Pomfrey yet because I haven’t been injured but I guess she must be an amazing witch doctor for a school this big and with such a variety of injuries that could happen.

Anyway, after that we went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest which is this really dark place with all the trees really close together and there’s supposed to be a bunch of dangerous creatures in there like centaurs and werewolves but how much of that is made up I don’t know. Technically it’s off limits to students and Ginny was really brave and said it didn’t frighten her at all and stood a metre inside the treeline but then we saw Mr Hagrid coming so we ran away because he looked scary (although maybe that’s because he always looks scary—he must be over 3 metres tall!). We were all really tired by the time we got back up to the castle and Mr Filch (the caretaker) shouted at us for treading mud into the Entrance Hall but he shouts at everyone so it’s fine. Also, why can’t he just clean it up with a wand?

I should probably stop writing now, Hamza wants to teach me a new game called ‘Exploding Snap’ which sounds exciting/ominous! Hopefully, I’ll remember to post this and it’ll reach you by Sunday evening.

Lots of love,

Colin

3rd October 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

My matchstick finally changed into a needle! Professor McGonagall said it was “very nicely executed” and once I’d gotten past this mental block it just seems so much easier—it seemed really easy to transform back into a matchstick—so I feel like a proper wizard now! By the end of the year we’re supposed to be able to transfigure living creatures like mice and turn them into matchboxes but that still seems like a long way off. In the meantime we’re moving on to learning about “the Transfiguration Alphabet” which sounds a lot like more boring theoretical work but Professor McGonagall insisted that it was ‘vitally important in furthering our understanding of the rules of magic behind transformation’ or something. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Also on a magical note, we’re learning about the Lumos charm in Defence Against the Dark Arts because Professor Lockhart (he’s the really famous one, remember?) told us all about how useful it was in his book ‘Voyages with Vampires’. It’s supposed to light up the end of your wand like a torch but none of us could really pull it off in his lessons, even though it’s supposed to be fairly elementary. I think Professor Lockhart was just a bit overexcited when he was teaching it to us because Luna (she’s Ginny’s friend) asked Professor Flitwick for his help with it in one of our Charms lessons and then by the end we could ALL manage to do it. He was so impressed he even gave us all points, so I’ve now got 2 points for Gryffindor house—we’re well on our way to winning the house cup!

I’ve managed to develop some more of my photos as well—I send off for some more of that developing potion from the shop in Hogsmeade and now I’ve got a bunch saved up for the rest of the year as well. I’ll attach some photos with this letter so you can see how they turned out (I’m quite proud of them). I’ve got loads more as well of different bits around the castle and grounds: I really like the one with the view across the Black Lake, and the one from the Entrance Hall looking upwards where you can see all the staircases moving in the photos—it looks so cool! I asked Luna how the potion worked because she’s a Ravenclaw so she’s supposed to be super smart and know lots of stuff but she didn’t, except for a suggestion about Nargles. I would go and ask Professor Snape but I don’t think he really likes me (or anyone to be honest, even the Slytherins he describes as ‘tolerable’). It’s probably something similar to what allows the portraits to move around and talk—I never really realised how strange that was until now, I guess I’m just becoming used to the magical world.

Exploding Snap was loads of fun last week too! We’re going to play it again today so I need to finish this up soon. I’ll write again next week!

Lots of love,

Colin

10th October 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

We had another midnight Astronomy lesson this week, and we were looking more at different stars and constellations and stuff. We got to spot all of the usual ones we look at like Orion and stuff but there’s so many I didn’t realise existed like ‘Aquila’ and ‘Cassiopeia’ that we have to be able to recognise by the end of the year. We have regular theory lessons too during the day when we look at maps of the sky and plan where we’re going to look with our telescopes and things. It’s kind of annoying having to go all the way up to the top of the Astronomy Tower for those lessons, because there’s surely no point if we’re not even going to look at the sky, but professor Sinistra says it’s to get us ‘in the right mindset’ or something. I spent most of the practical lesson chatting with Hamza about astronomy (because he’s ace at it so when he helped me we got the actual work done super-fast) and he was telling me all this cool stuff about the stars—like in Libya how there are some people who can use the stars to tell you how you’re going to die and stuff. It’s a bit morbid but where he grew up the dead are still amongst us somehow (not as in they’re ghosts, because we can’t see them) and they’re very careful to respect them and treat them well. He said his dad works for the Ministry of Magic (of course we have our own wizarding ~~Goverment~~ Government!) as an expert on the afterlife and whether or not we can reach it. It sounds really cool but he’s not supposed to talk about it much, I guess it must be top secret!

In other news, I finally got to meet Madam Pomfrey after I burnt my finger with an ~~overenthuzi~~ overenthusiastic Lumos charm (I didn’t realise just how hot they can get if you’re not concentrating properly) but it’s all OK because she just gave me a paste to put on it and then waved her wand over the top and it was completely back to normal! She did give me a bit of a telling off for being so careless but I think it just shows I can do a really powerful spell!

Dennis, I know you have some exams coming up, so good luck to you for that and I’m sure you’ll do really well. Also, I know it’s your birthday in a couple of weeks and I’m really sorry I can’t be there for that. I hope you like the present I’ll send with my letter in a few weeks’ time! It really would be nice to have my own owl (like Hedwig, that’s Harry’s owl) so you can write back more often; these school ones are quite fast but they’re very eager to fly off again if you don’t give them a treat or a letter to take!

In the meantime, I’m still a little tired after that Astronomy so I’ll say goodbye now and catch up on some sleep!

Lots of love,

Colin

17th October 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

It’s been an exhausting week this week because all the teachers decided to set LOADS of homework for no apparent reason. We’ve fully moved on to making feathers ~~levvi~~ float in the air and it was still quite hard but not nearly as bad as Transfiguration. In fact I think mine wiggled slightly so hopefully I’ll make it move soon. Apparently there was a kid last year who managed to make it explode so I don’t think I’ll be quite that bad. In Herbology we’re still working with Mandrakes although professor Sprout says that they’re getting quite dangerous now as they get older so it was probably our last lesson with them. They’re supposed to be really useful in potions so she wants to make sure they’re ready by the end of the year so Professor Snape can teach his sixth-year class how to use them. I think we’re moving onto these prickly bushes next—they’re covered in spiky needles that can shoot out at you. She mentioned that we’d have covered them by the end of term but I think she’s waiting for us to learn some more spells from Professor Lockhart first. Who would have thought we’d be defending ourselves against prickly plants as opposed to dark wizards? Not that he seems in any particular hurry to teach us the spells, we’re mostly just learning how they can be applied in real-life scenarios, and I have to say it’s really cool having a teacher with so much experience dealing with these kinds of things!

With Professor Binns we’ve moved on from Emeric the Evil to the ‘Werewolf Code of Conduct’ which (like a lot of History of Magic) sounds more interesting than it is. It was basically a plan to round up all the werewolves so they don’t hurt anybody but none of them showed up for it because they didn’t want to be locked in cages. They seem really scary the way Professor Binns (and Professor Lockhart) described them but by the sound of things they’re practically normal except on the full moon when they’re terrifyingly dangerous! Emeric was actually pretty cool to learn about once we got into it—I mostly just ignore the Professor and read through the textbook, which is far less ~~sopporrific~~ sleep-inducing. By the end of the year I think we’re supposed to move back on to more ‘great wizards of the Middle Ages’, so that should be quite exciting.

In Potions we’re learning about dragon blood and how useful it is. Apparently OUR headmaster, Professor Dumbledore himself discovered many of the uses and now it’s being taught to us in our lessons—how cool is that! Professor Snape is still just the same as ever: favouring Slytherins and having very high standards, but he’s actually a pretty good teacher when he wants to be. He’s also _really_ good at Potions (although Ginny says that he wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts role, I guess Professor Lockhart is there because he’s so famous and has loads of experience).

There was a really big storm the other night and the sky of the Great Hall looked really cool with the candles set against the dark clouds, I took some photos and I’m hoping to get them developed in time to send them off with next week’s letter. Dennis, I can’t wait until you get to come here—my descriptions and even the photos of the castle and the magic can barely do it justice! Good luck with the rest of your tests and I’ll speak to you soon!

Lots of love,

Colin

24th October 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

Hello again—how are you all doing? It’s been another busy week at Hogwarts what with all the homework and stuff. I’ve been playing lots of wizard chess with Hamza too (it’s another one of those games like Exploding Snap—a normal game that wizards took and made it more violent and exciting!)

First of all to Dennis: Happy Birthday! I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there this year, but I hope you like the present I’ll send with this card. The owl I’m using to send this one is a pretty big tawny so hopefully it’ll be able to carry everything alright! Congratulations on making it to double digits—I bet you feel so grown up now (I know I did). You’ll have a wonderful time at your party with your friends, and make sure that you eat lots of cake. Nobody can stop you because it’s your birthday!

Speaking of celebrations, our House Ghost Nearly Headless Nick is celebrating his 500th ‘Deathday’ Party soon (I think it’s on Halloween) which is a weird thing to celebrate but all the ghosts are talking about it because it’s such a big ~~aniv~~ anniversary. Five centuries is a really long time, it’s basically half the age of Hogwarts! I’ve been getting more used to the ghosts lately, though it’s still always unnerving when they come floating through a wall, particularly the Headless Hunt because they don’t look where they’re going and sometimes they drop their heads in surprise at seeing you. It’s also kind of a horrible feeling when they go through you. I was talking to Ginny about it and she said the castle is the most haunted place in Britain because of all the ghosts—maybe it’s something to do with all the magic in the air? She also said there’s a girl Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom which sounds horrible—apparently it’s why nobody uses that bathroom, because she’s so sad and annoying to be around. You would think when you’re dead there’s a bunch of stuff you could go and see if you wanted to, particularly in such a magical place like Hogwarts but I guess she just likes being all sad for some reason? There’s also the Bloody Baron who spends his time wailing and dragging his chains everywhere for something he did hundreds of years ago (he’s the Slytherin ghost) and that can get very creepy, particularly when it echoes around the dungeons.

All of my classes are still good, and the teachers seem in a more festive mood than usual because of the upcoming feast. Except Mr Filch, he’s been much more irritated recently, and everybody’s saying he’s got the flu but I think it might just be because he doesn’t like children. To be fair, some twins a few years above me have been setting off fireworks all over the place recently (they even put one in a lizard to see what would happen) and I think that’s been _setting him off_. Not sure why though; it’s just a bit of harmless fun.

Once again, Happy Birthday to Dennis, hope you like the cake (and the photos) and I’ll speak to you soon!

Lots of love,

Colin

31st October 1992

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

Wow! The Halloween Feast has me so excited! Mr Hagrid (I think I mentioned that he’s the gamekeeper at Hogwarts) has been looking after these ENORMOUS pumpkins which are supposed to be used for decoration but maybe also for some pumpkin pies, pumpkin fritters, pumpkin juice… there’s a lot of pumpkin—seriously they’re bigger than he is, and that’s really saying something. I’ve also seen some of the decorations that the teachers were getting ready for the feast in the Great Hall tonight and there’s going to be live bats and even more candles than usual and jack-o-lanterns. It really is the holiday that fits in most with Hogwarts’ ~~esthetic~~ aesthetic. Having said that we drink pumpkin juice all year round and I only just realised how strange that is. Can you even get pumpkin juice in the regular world? I don’t think I ever had it before coming here, that’s for sure!

In our lessons we were moving on to making heavier things levitate in Charms class. He said we’re a little ahead of the class last year, because almost all of us made our feathers fly already so we all got points for our houses as well! Hamza can even do it on our textbook and that’s really heavy! Soon I think we’re going to move on to Repairing Charms which sounds SO useful! The number of times I’ve wished I could just put a broken plate back together with a flick of a wand! Having said that, it might be a while because you remember how I said a lot of the teachers were feeling festive? Professor Flitwick just let us play Halloween themed games in the last half of our lesson on Friday which was good fun! He even charmed a set of wizard chess so that all of the people had pumpkins on their heads to make it ‘spookier’!

Dennis, I hope you had a great birthday party and got loads of cool presents. Those wizard sweets I sent you were from one of the shops in the nearby village – you can send in postal orders to them and they’ll even give you a few extra to try if you say it’s a gift! Well done on your exam results as well—I know you worked really hard for them and it paid off, I’m such a proud big brother, and I bet your teachers were proud too!

I’ll have to cut this letter a bit short because I want to send it before we head down for the feast tonight, but I’ll make sure to tell you all about it next week!

Lots of love,

Colin

7th November 1992

Dear Mum and Dad

I’m writing this letter to you with a separate one sent to Dennis because I don’t want to make him scared about coming here when he does. It really is great most of the time, it’s just because we’ve had a bit of an unnerving few days. After the Halloween Feast when we were all leaving there was a commotion in one of the corridors. The caretaker was getting upset because his cat (Mrs Norris, I think I’ve mentioned them before) was turned to stone by something. The staff got all worried about it because they thought it was dead at first but Professor Dumbledore’s a really powerful wizard so he was able to work out what had happened to it but not what did it.

The castle’s been buzzing since then, with rumours about a ‘Chamber of Secrets’ but I’m not really sure what all the fuss is about—nobody liked Mrs Norris anyway. Also, some people are saying that Harry Potter’s the one who did it which is kind of scary but also makes a bit of sense I think. I mean, he defeated this dark wizard You-Know-Who when he was just a baby after all so he must secretly be really powerful. Maybe he’s just disguised as a student and is really like a thousand years old? Anyway, everything’s probably fine but my friend Ginny seems really upset about the whole thing for some reason so I thought I should play it safe and not tell Dennis about this. Hogwarts really is such an amazing place and I don’t want to spoil that for him by having him scared of coming here.

In other news, we had the Gryffindor against Slytherin Quidditch match and Gryffindor won! We’re so lucky to have Harry Potter as Seeker for our team because he’s so fast and brave—he was even willing to break his arm trying to catch the snitch. He was doing some really fancy flying as well, even when Gryffindor were down some points and Slytherin were kind of cheating because they’ve all got new brooms bought for them by one of the member’s dad (who I think is super rich in the wizarding world). Anyway, first years aren’t allowed their own broomsticks but maybe I’ll ask Harry if I can have a go on his. I’d probably prefer being the commentator anyway, but that job’s already taken and I don’t really understand what’s going on well enough—I just want to take amazing photos of all the cool tricks and awesome throws!

I’ll write to you again next week as usual—try not to worry about me, I’ll be fine. Everyone here says Professor Dumbledore’s the greatest wizard alive, so if anybody can keep me safe then it’s him.

Lots of love,

Colin

Dear Dennis

I can’t wait until you’ll be here in a couple of years’ time! I bet you’ll love to be in Gryffindor too, and you’d be amazed with all the ghosts and magic. The Halloween Feast especially was so amazing! There was so much food all Halloween themed with pumpkins and loads of sweets and other desserts to have and they even let us take some sweets back to our dormitories. Professor Dumbledore even brought in a troupe of dancing skeletons for entertainment and that was so funny!

We also got to watch the first Quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Slytherin and we won! Harry Potter’s our Seeker and he might have been showing off because he was looping about all over the place during the match—I guess he’s just that good! I took some amazing photos during the match but I’ll need to wait a bit to get them developed so I’ll probably be able to send them with my next letter. Actually, I’m sneaking out to go and say hi to Harry in the Hospital Wing. I heard someone say that he likes grapes, so I’m bringing him some of those; and I want to talk to him about Quidditch. Maybe mum and dad will buy me a broomstick so I can be on the team next year and you can watch me score for Gryffindor (I probably wouldn’t be good enough though!)

I still miss you a lot—it’s weird going to a school without you but I’ll get to see you when I come home for Christmas, and again at Easter. You’re doing amazing and I love you very much, I couldn’t ask for a better little brother in the whole world!

Lots of love,

Dennis

8th November 1992

Dear Mr and Mrs Creevey,

I regret to inform you that your son, Colin Creevey has encountered an unfortunate magical accident. Due to circumstances outside of the school’s control, he has been temporarily petrified, and as such will be unable to write to you or respond to any letters sent. Of course, we will be doing our very best to ensure he is safe and comfortable throughout the remainder of the school year, and he is being cared for in our Hospital Wing by our matron Madam Pomfrey, who is a gifted medical Healer (the closest familiar equivalent would be a doctor in the non-wizarding world). Professor Sprout of the Herbology department is preparing the ingredients for a Restorative Draught which will be administered as soon as possible. I therefore urge you not to worry—I am confident that your son will be returned safe and in his former condition by the end of the year with no lasting damaging effects, physical or mental. I apologise profusely on behalf of the school for allowing this oversight to happen; rest assured the security and wellbeing of the students here are my utmost priorities.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, and feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or queries, particularly with regard to visitation. I can be contacted via Owl Post, or if you prefer through a letter to the return address given.

Yours faithfully,

Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore  
Headmaster of Hogwarts

_Return address:  
Albus Dumbledore  
Headmaster’s office  
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry  
Hogsmeade  
Highland  
Scotland_

31st May 1993

Dear Mum, Dad and Dennis

I’m SO SORRY I haven’t been able to write to you at all over the last few months. Professor Dumbledore told me all about what happened when I woke up. He said I’d been allowed to be taken home a few times so you could see me (because that’s easier than you coming to Hogwarts) but most of the time it would be safer under the care of Madam Pomfrey. There were some other students too, including ~~Hermy~~ Hermione Granger, another one of Harry Potter’s friends who got turned to stone like me! Apparently he also managed to _defeat_ the Basilisk that was the thing going around petrifying people? It sounds terrifying that there was a HUGE snake inside the castle and nobody noticed, but I guess that’s what you get at a magical place like Hogwarts. I’m still feeling really tired because Madam Pomfrey gave me a Sleeping Potion to help me recover after I transformed back so I’ll probably have to keep this letter pretty short since I want to send it off right away.

Professor Dumbledore said he’s given me ‘special visitation privileges due to extenuating circumstances’ so I can come home and see you. Even though for me it’s only been a couple of days since I last sent a letter to you, I suppose for you it’s been more than 6 months—that’s crazy! I hope you weren’t too worried about me, but I’m safe and sound now and I can’t wait to give you all a big family hug when I get back. He also bought me a brand-new camera to say sorry, so I can take loads more amazing photos (I’ll be busy this summer, that’s for sure!) You’ll be glad to hear that he also promised to sort out special permission for me to have magical tutoring at home from a ‘qualified professional’ so I don’t have to repeat a year at Hogwarts (apparently exams were cancelled as a school treat).

I can’t wait to see you soon.

Lots of love,

Colin

**Author's Note:**

> You know the nice thing about writing a fic from the perspective of an 11-year old kid who's so in awe of everything around him that he just HAS to write it all down immediately? You can play off bad writing as "stylistic choice" ;) Seriously, I hope you enjoyed and of course any feedback is always welcome.


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